L.A. gas prices continued their downward trend for the 13th consecutive week, but at a continued slower pace, indicating that the decreases may soon end, said the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Shares of Learning Tree International Inc. slid Friday after announcing its fourth-quarter and full-year revenue will come in lower than a year earlier and that it expects a loss from operations for those periods.

AT & T; Inc., formed by SBC's purchase of AT & T; Corp, is planning the biggest ad campaign in the history of either company in a bid to convince customers to stay as competition heats up from cable TV rivals.

East West Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday it agreed to buy rival Standard Bank for about $204 million, creating a combined bank with $8.8 billion in assets and expanding its Chinese-American customer base.

Shares of Bally Total Fitness teeter-tottered Tuesday after it said it was considering a poison-pill defense because two of its largest shareholders, including L.A.-based Liberation Investments LP, may be conspiring on a takeover.

Shares of Staar Surgical Co. soared more than 47 percent Friday after the surgical products maker said U.S. health regulators approved its implantable lens for use in the correction of nearsightedness.

The November median price of an existing home in Los Angeles County rose slightly from a month earlier as sales declined across Southern California, the California Association of Realtors reported Thursday.

General Electric Co.'s real-estate unit has agreed to buy Los Angeles-based Arden Realty Inc. for about $3.2 billion in cash plus the assumption of $1.6 billion of debt, the companies announced Thursday.

The L.A. City Council on Wednesday passed an ordinance requiring buyers of grocery stores in the city to retain workers at the stores for 90 days. The council rejected the opposition of grocery executives.

The U.S. economy turned in a strong performance in the summer despite surging energy prices and the Gulf Coast hurricanes, although business growth was slightly lower than the government had estimated.

L.A. foreclosures jumped 38 percent in November but the city's foreclosure rate was lowest among the nation's five largest metropolitan areas, according to RealtyTrac's Monthly Foreclosure Market Report.

Albertson's Inc. is set to be sold to an investment group comprised of Cerberus Capital, Kimco Realty and grocer Supervalu for about $9.6 billion, or $26 a share, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Stocks closed lower Friday as markets followed what has become a pattern at the sputtering end of this fourth-quarter rally: Early gains narrow through the day's trading and occasionally turn to losses.

Ralphs Grocery Co. was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on 53 criminal counts that alleged identity theft and claimed the grocer created false Social Security numbers to rehire locked-out employees during the 2002-2003 grocery strike.

Activision Inc. on Wednesday warned that its third-quarter, fourth-quarter and full-year earnings will be "significantly lower" than its most recent outlook due to slower sales of its most profitable titles.

The report from the Milken Institute reveals wide variations in the economic health of city neighborhoods, with the Westside and San Fernando Valley leading the way and Central, Eastern and South L.A. lagging behind.

General Dynamics Corp. agreed to buy Anteon International Corp. for about $2.1 billion in cash, in a move to expand its technology, training and engineering services to the U.S. government and military.

California's economy will slow next year, led by a downturn in real estate and construction jobs, but there is little chance of a recession, said the forecast released by UCLA's Anderson School of Management.

Johnson & Johnson, facing a higher rival bid for Guidant Corp., on Tuesday said it remains committed to acquiring the medical device maker but did not raise the bid price it had already negotiated with Guidant.

The Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday named former Red Sox manager Grady Little as manager of the Dodgers. Little, 55, becomes the seventh manager in Dodgers history and the fifth in the last eight years.

Three groups of bidders, one of which includes billionaire Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos., are putting the final touches on offers to take over supermarket chain Albertson's Inc., the Financial Times reported.